The Last Dance
by ilspooner3
Summary: A short exploration of a theory I came up with the Lutece twins. This is the first fanfic I've ever written, hope you enjoy! :)


"Heads?"

"Or tails?"

"Come on, let me through."

"Heads?"

"Or tails?" Booker sighed.

"Heads." He said, spinning the coin through the air. It landed with a soft clink on the offered plate, and Rosalind flicked her eyes down. Robert looked over, and the slightest frown crossed his face. Rosalind turned and drew a mark on the board, the first in the Tails column.

"That shouldn't happen." Robert said.

"No, it shouldn't." Rosalind replied.

"Excuse me." Booker grunted. The pair moved off to the side, and Booker walked away, peering at them curiously as he passed.

"That was odd."

"Yes, he is quite rude, isn't he, brother?"

"I'm afraid that's not what I meant."

"Then what?"

"We've already been here today. Twice. Both times previous, the result was heads."

"You're worried about the coin? That was nothing but a theory of yours."

"Perhaps. But it was the first deviation. From over eight hundred attempts. I feel that is cause for concern."

"Your worry is uncharacteristic of you. Your theory has merely been disproven."

"I still feel it should be investigated."

"Perhaps. We shall see, brother."

The twins reappeared within their lab, random pieces of equipment strewn over most surfaces. Robert took off the chalkboard, and laid it with the others. On it, the Heads column was full, and the Tails column held five tallies.

"What do you think, sister?"

"About what?"

"The deviations."

"Are you still concerned about the coin? I feel you are worrying excessively."

"Not just that. Did you not notice?"

"There are many things to notice. I believe you should narrow your question before I answer."

"Other deviations. Of other events. Events that have always occurred."

"Events change, time is no constant. I will concede, the contrast was odd, but no cause for alarm."

"We have been observing these dimensions for years, sister. This has never occurred before."

"There is a first time for everything."

"You are unfairly dismissing my concerns."

"Your concerns are unfounded."

"They deserve attention. It is a matter of simple observation, perhaps that is why you do not understand them."

"Are insults not beneath you?"

"Is investigating not in your nature?"

"Perhaps you are right."

"I know I am."

"No, you don't."

"Right once more. Shall we start to test?"

"Of course."

The wardrobe was flickering. The edges became hazy, indistinct, and began to take a greyish tinge. Robert stared at, watched it twitch, and watched the grey spread. As it spread, from the edge to the center, the body began to change. The supports changed shape, a small crack formed on one of the doors, and the orderly interior was replaced with a chaotic mess of clothes. Finally, with a sudden, violent flicker, the wardrobe stilled, and colour slowly seeped back into its body, taking on a darker and more worn brown than before. Robert nodded, and pressed a button on the device next to him.

"The third distortion today." He said. "So far, only the wardrobe appears to be affected. These phenomena have a similar appearance to what the girl is able to create. Perhaps they are connected. I feel this is a cause for concern, concern which has been steadily mounting over the previous days. However, my sister is in disagreement with me. I may be worrying over nothing, however, I shall be certain to continue my observations." He turned off the recording, the needle coming off the disk with a soft hum. Rosalind entered the room behind him. Robert didn't turn.

"The third distortion?"

"Indeed."

"Any pattern?"

"None that I have noticed. The previous distortion occurred twenty minutes ago, and the one before that, two hours previous."

"And nothing in common with the wardrobes themselves?"

"They appear to have the same interiors, but they are in different states of disarray."

"It appears our alternate selves have terrible taste in interior decorating."

"I would be forced to agree."

"Were the others more tasteful?"

"It would be hard to not to be."

"A fair point."

"I feel we have gotten distracted from our original topic of conversation."

"You would be correct. I must concede, I believe that your concerns have some merit."

"What changed your mind?"

"This is not the only distortion."

"I see."

"Furthermore, it appears to be on a larger scale than a wardrobe."

"Ah."

"Would you care to take a look?"

"You already know the answer."

"Of course I do." The pair turned on their heels simultaneously and left the room, Robert avoiding the crackling generator that broke through the floor. Rosalind walked down the corridor, and stopped at the staircase. Robert stopped at her side, and looked down.

"There was a staircase there before."

"How observant, brother."

"Perhaps it was stolen."

"I find that unlikely."

"I find it unlikely that it never existed. There is nowhere near enough space for our equipment as is, removing the second storey would not alleviate that issue."

"That may be the case, but who would steal a staircase?"

"A thief?"

"And furthermore, how would they remove it without either of us noticing?"

"With great talent, I would wager."

"I think you know that's not the case."

"Of course I do, sister."

"Then why would you continue to bring up the point?"

"I prefer the possibility of stair thieves to the alternative."

"Hiding from the truth does not change it, brother."

"As Comstock found out."

"You're getting distracted. Again, uncharacteristic."

"Apologies. Did you see it change?"

"No, I'm afraid. I was conducting a test elsewhere, then I went to retrieve some notes. My progress was... hampered."

"I can imagine."

"I find it unlikely that the laboratory is the only place to be affected by these distortions."

"For once, we are in agreement. Shall we investigate outside?"

"It would seem an obvious action to take."

The twins hadn't been outside the lab for a long time. Of course, they had been outside, but always in other dimensions, exploring and experimenting, only using that world for the laboratory. They walked briskly, shoulder to shoulder, in perfect sync, ignoring the curious looks from onlookers.

"Nothing seems to be amiss." Robert said.

"I doubt you would notice if something was."

"Are you insulting my perception?"

"No."

"I would disagree with that."

"I merely implied it. Simply because you believed I did does not change my intent."

"You're not very good at lying."

"Neither are you."

"Ah, our one weakness."

"They are staring at us most oddly."

"We did die, if you recall."

"Well, yes, but that is no reason to be rude."

"I imagine they rarely see dead people walking down the street. It must be a novelty."

"Perhaps." Rosalind stopped suddenly, Robert immediately following suit. "There," she said softly, "a distortion." Robert looked to where she was pointing. The edges of an abandoned shop were beginning to twitch erratically, turning the same dull grey as the wardrobe had done.

"That is a significant distortion." Robert said.

"Troubling." The edges stopped the flickering, instead it spread into the building, changing wood to brick, shattered, filth encrusted windows to brand new ones. It took only a minute for the distortion to swallow the whole store, leaving a new one in its place, clean and well kept. The colour starting seeping back in, slowly changing from a dull monotone grey to an uneven, brick red.

"Very significant."

"Perhaps they are trying a new method of redecorating?"

"That seems excessive, sister."

"It does appear to be quite efficient."

"Few are aware of the existence of other dimensions, let alone have the ability to harness them."

"These could be the work of the girl."

"I find that possibility unlikely. Unless she has an interest in making our furniture look unappealing."

"Perhaps she does."

"Perhaps. She has developed a vindictive streak recently."

"Never directed at us, however."

"The distortion appears to have attracted attention."

"I imagine that this is not a frequent occurrence."

"This requires further investigation." The Luteces turned, and came back the way they came, passing through a gathering crowd, gawping at the sudden transformation. As they approached the laboratory, a lamppost near them began to flicker too, but as the distortion passed through, nothing was left in its wake. The pair stopped, and watched, bemused, as the post turned into empty space before their eyes.

"It appears these distortions interchange space from other dimensions." Robert said.

"I thought that was obvious, brother."

"Of course it was, I was merely stating it for your benefit."

"Your insults are lacking, I'm afraid."

"Nothing more than an implication, sister."

"You rejected that argument when I used it."

"Irrelevant, I simply made mine better than yours."

"I feel we should spend less time arguing, and more time investigating this phenomena."

"And, of course, you are right."

"As always." As they approached the lab, the door began to flicker as well. It shuddered, changing into the same dull grey. Rosalind sighed as it shifted and groaned.

"This is most inconvenient."

"And worrying. It was not two days ago that nothing like this had occurred."

"Indeed. I wonder how many realities are being affected in the same manner."

"Obviously these distorted objects have to come from somewhere, but this reality appears to have a very high frequency of this occurring." The door had finally ceased the shifting, and the colour resurfaced, as the twins stared at it with disdain.

"Our alternate selves truly do lack any sense of taste." Robert sniffed.

"Perhaps the door is from the same reality from which the wardrobe originated?"

"The wardrobe was very much unappealing, but that was mostly due to the aged state it was in, it could once have been impressive. However..."

"...that shade of yellow is physically painful."

"It could never be considered acceptable."

"It embarrasses me to think that in at least one reality, we feel that the door is in some way appealing."

"We must never visit that dimension. I fear our eyes would not survive the trauma." Robert moved forward, opened the door with a click, and moved to step inside. Rosalind caught his collar and pulled him backwards violently. Robert's eyes widened slightly, then he readjusted his collar.

"We no longer have a floor." He said stiffly, staring down into the vast expanse of sky inside the room.

"These distortions truly are inconvenient."

"We still have our walls, so that's a consolation, at least."

"However, out of the possible sides of a room that could disappear, the lack of a floor is by far the most annoying."

"Hm."

"Should we go back..."

"...before the floor disappeared?"

"Finishing my sentence is less impressive when no one is around to observe, brother."

"And I must agree with you on that. But, it is good practice, don't you agree?"

"Perhaps." The twins disappeared, then reappeared in the same spot, a few hours earlier. They looked to the door, which had reverted to normal. The windows, however, were already turning grey, shifting more violently than the earlier distortions. It took only a few seconds before the windows were too changed into empty space, a cold wind blowing in from the lab.

"This is getting rather frustrating."

"What do you think we should do, brother?"

"Something incredibly clever."

"And do you have anything like that in mind?"

"Not in the slightest."

"As per usual."

"Perhaps we should see whether other realities are being affected in the same manner."

"But simply observing them will do nothing."

"Well, yes, but if only this reality is being affected, we would have to approach the problem differently."

"Of course other realities are being affected, where else would this empty space come from?"

"Point made, but I think you know what I mean."

"It's not my fault you're being vague, brother."

"It's not my fault you're taking everything so literally."

"Shall we agree that the fault is equally split, and get onto actually solving this problem?"

"Normally, I enjoy arguing, but I feel in this instance there is some matter of urgency. So I am forced to agree."

"Now, the question is how to go about solving it."

"Research generally helps with these matters."

"Generally. Not necessarily."

"Unless you have any other suggestions, that is the action I recommend taking."

"Well then, that's settled. Shall we begin?"

"Of course, dear sister."

The twins set to their work, becoming swallowed in an eternal cycle for about a week. They built machines, tinkered with them, then tore them up for scrap within a few hours. They observed hundreds of distortions, from all kinds of realities, took notes, swapped theories and ideas. During this period, the distortions ravaged the house and the surrounding area, swallowing vital notes, replacing rooms and objects with random replacements, and, at one point, taking the roof and putting a storm cloud in its place. But still, they worked, getting steadily more frustrated as theory after theory was disproven, as the distortions became more frequent and violent.

"Rosalind, I fear these distortions are truly beginning to get out of hand."

"You only just realized this, brother?"

"There is a refrigerator in the bedroom."

"And you are alarmed by that? There have been far more significant occurrences than that."

"Normally, I would agree. However, in this case, the refrigerator is inside the bed."

"...What do you mean?"

"It is lodged inside. I'm not exactly sure how it happened, but it is jutting out at a very unusual angle."

"I wouldn't be concerned. Within twenty minutes, the whole bedroom will probably become something different anyway."

"I had left a voxophone there. It was quite important."

"Perhaps you should check inside the fridge."

"I can't open the door. It is still lodged inside the bed."

"A pity."

"Oh well, I doubt it would have helped matters."

"We are still no closer to discovering any solution."

"Assuming there is a solution."

"We are scientists, brother. If we cannot find a solution...

"...we make one. Yes, I am aware, but time is running short."

"We don't know that. It might have just reached its apex, and will now slow down and stop."

"Do you really think that's the case?"

"Not in the slightest." Robert sighed, and looked down to his notes.

"The frequency is increasing by the day. We need to find a way to at least slow the rate down, so we have more time to think."

"Brother, you act like this is in any way a revelation. That was our goal from the beginning."

"Our goal from the beginning was to investigate."

"And obviously to stop them from spreading. You are being deliberately obtuse."

"This week has been stressful. Forgive me for trying to mind something to be amused by."

"Normally, I would accept that reasoning, however, this is still a matter of urgency. We must continue if we are to have a hope of solving this issue before it truly gets unbearable."

"Have you made any progress so far, sister?"

"I'm trying to find any connections between the distortions, if there is a connection, it will be trivial to find the source and halt it."

"Have you found a connection?"

"The matter all originates from different dimensions."

"Have you found any connections that we weren't already aware of?"

"No."

"Then why bring it up if we both already know?"

"Perhaps if we eliminate all other realities from existence, it will alleviate the issue."

"That seems drastic, and quite unethical."

"I am aware, it is still a possible solution."

"One that we will never use."

"Of course not."

"I might leave you now, to continue observations of some other realities."

"And leave me alone to research?"

"For a time."

"You could take no time at all, or even gain time. Why spend it?"

"These distortions appear to transcend our abilities. It doesn't matter how far we go back, as you would have noticed, they simply begin to reappear."

"I suppose that is accurate. Very well, I will continue my work here. Try to uncover something useful."

"I wasn't planning on being useless, sister."

"Which is a first."

"Sarcasm never suited you well."

"And, by extension, you as well."

"A pity." Robert then disappeared, displaced air from another dimension filling the vacuum he left behind. Rosalind returned to her work, ignoring the shifting and creaking of the house as the distortions ravaged through. Robert stood silently and watched for hours, noting all distortions he saw, and periodically leaving to return to another reality. The distortions were just as violent and unpredictable, turning roads to air, buildings to rubble, empty space to random structures. Reactions were constant across universes, surprise, shock, fear, and panic. Robert would stand, motionless, observing transformations as crowds fled in blind terror. Robert's normally blank expression slowly began to change, becoming uneasy. His notes quickly became littered with speculations, and theories, and as time wore on, the writing became more illegible. After just a few hours, he disappeared once more, and immediately rematerialised within the laboratory.

"You're back." Rosalind said, not looking up from her mess of calculations.

"I am."

"Did you find anything useful?"

"Possibly."

"Care to go into more detail then?"

"This is only a theory, mind you."

"Theories are all we can go off, brother." Robert hesitated, and Rosalind looked up and fixed him with a withering stare. "Time is of the essence, brother. Just explain your theory."

"I... think I may have discovered the source of the distortions."

"Now, that would be useful. And yet, you are worried about it."

"Correct."

"And why would that be?"

"You may not like it."

"I may not. You said it yourself. It is just a theory." Robert swallowed nervously.

"I feel that Fink's assassination attempt may have worked better than he anticipated."

"Technically, we did die."

"But yet we still live."

"Either way, do you care to explain further? You are being horribly vague. Unless you mean..."

"...we are the epicenter of this phenomenon." There was a moment of silence. Rosalind put down her pencil, and looked off into the distance for a second.

"Are you... certain?"

"Can I prove it completely? No."

"And yet it still makes sense."

"Indeed. We were given this ability, but we never truly explored it, did we, sister?"

"No, we did not."

"Our machine designed to tear reality malfunctioned."

"But yet it still continues to tear it."

"Using us as the source."

"However, these distortions were only recent..."

"Only the ones we noticed. Imagine how long minor tears have been occurring? Shifting but a few particles at a time, slowly getting more violent."

"Increasing in intensity exponentially."

"Until we are where we are now."

"Reality tearing itself to shreds before our eyes."

"I only realized when I was observing the other dimensions. The distortions... they only occurred around us."

"Some we never observed, however."

"Well, yes, but they were still in our vicinity."

"So, what can we do?" Robert shrugged.

"Our very existence is causing the universe to tear itself apart."

"We are causing the end of the world. Rather awkward."

"Mm. Not something you'll want to put on a resume."

"Luckily we are self employed."

"Employment is no issue if the world is about to end."

"We can have the satisfaction as we die that we are comfortably contributing to society."

"But, at the same time, we are the ones who caused society to collapse. I feel that overwhelms it somewhat."

"You may be right."

"Of course I am."

"And, if you're wrong with your theory, dear brother?"

"Well, that too, would be awkward."

"I feel that you are correct, however."

"Mm. At least we know the issue."

"How to go about resolving it though... Dying seems frightfully inconvenient."

"If that will solve the issue at all."

"Our machine never was stable, was it?"

"No, it wasn't, but I fail to see the relevance of that."

"The energy source didn't last long. It would always have to be connected to a generator just to run."

"So, you feel that our condition is..."

"...temporary. The energy is unstable, and so are we."

"That just creates more issues."

"And these distortions have been steadily increasing. I feel this is the last burst of a dying engine."

"Our last burst." Rosalind gave a half smile.

"Well, it looks like our time is up, dear brother."

"What do you think we should do?"

"The distortions are centered around us. We can minimize the damage, at least. I feel this reality has taken enough of a beating as is."

"And once more, we are in agreement. Have you got somewhere in mind?"

"Just one place." The Luteces vanished; leaving behind a violently spasming room, which began to settle slowly. They reappeared on a flat expanse of nothing, the middle of a plateau. The sun was just beginning to rise, casting the land with a soft gold light. Already, the distortions began to appear, the air and earth shimmering and shifting. Robert smiled.

"A fair place to die, if I do say so myself."

"It could be worse, couldn't it?"

"Wait for just a moment, Rosalind." Robert winked out of existence, then reappeared not a moment later, holding in his hands a worn and beaten gramophone. He gingerly placed the needle on the record, that began to spin and play a soft tune. He placed it on the ground, then turned to Rosalind and held out his hand.

"If we have to die, we might as well do it with a degree of dignity. May I have the pleasure of one last dance?" Rosalind took his hand, and smiled herself.

"You know I cannot refuse." And so, to the tune, the pair began to dance, a slow waltz, across the shifting earth. No matter what tore through reality, they were ready, turning away from a speeding train, moving just as the ground was replaced with empty space, completely at ease in the chaotic environment. It didn't take long for the gramophone to be swallowed by a distortion, but still they danced, the howling wind and breaking stone becoming their new tune. Robert began to flicker, stretching violently for just a second before returning to normal.

"Looks like you were right, sister."

"I always am, aren't I?" Rosalind was the next to flicker.

"Do you think..."

"...everything will return to normal?"

"I can only wish, brother."

"That's all we are reduced to now, isn't it? Hope?"

"Not the worst refuge to take."

"Perhaps you are right." The flickering became more violent now, the twins randomly disappearing completely. But the opposite would continue, with empty space, waiting for the other to return, still within perfect sync. The disappearances lasted longer, and longer, as the distortions around them swirling and howled, the sky ripping asunder, lightning arcing across the sky and being swallowed into another reality.

"Rosalind..."

"Yes, brother?"

"Before it's too late, I just want to say..." As the words left his lips, Rosalind disappeared into nothing once more, and it took but a second for Robert to follow suit. The distortions grew more violent for a second, but began to slow, to settle, to replace all that was taken. The gramophone reappeared, still playing the soft waltz, drowning out the words that were now carried on the wind.

"Thank you."


End file.
